Brazil and Mexico capture $5 billion in telecom investment, despite political and economic challenges

Companies in the sector telecommunicationsbetween providers of fixed or mobile services and through wired or wireless technologies, directed at least 5,098.7 million dollars to the development and maintenance of networks in Brazil y Mexico in the first half of 2022, the two largest markets in Latin America by volume of consumers and that also promise the highest growth and investment recoveries with the maturation of 4G-LTE networks and the advent of technology 5G for mass consumption products and for industrial applications.

Brazil y Mexico They combine a market of 345 million people in 2022 and almost 21 million SMEs in 2021, figures that will make noise for the various companies that provide a whole range of fixed and cellular services, and also of Industry 4.0 in the case of process automation in both countries.

clear, Vivo y TIM are among the giants of the Brazilian market, but other companies such as Hey y algarwhile in Mexico the divisions of Televisa Group, America Movil y Megacableas well as AT&T y Totalplay lead investment in network deployment.

The investment of the industry in these two markets is an effort that contrasts with the economic growth that it will have Mexico of 2.0% in 2022 and 1.3% in 2023, and with the growth that will be reported Brazil of 2.6% in the year and 1.0% in the following, in addition to the fact that the industrialists of the sector face times of uncertainty in both countries due to the Brazilian presidential election this year and the insistent threat of the Mexican government to disappear the sectoral authority , although the regulator IFT has raised up to 3,400 million dollars so far from the Government of the 4T.

Separately, the consultant Conexis Brazil Digital indicated that based on their own analysis, the group of companies that participate in the Brazilian market would have invested some 17.4 billion reais during the first six months of 2022, a figure that translates into an investment of 3.293 million dollars in that period.

On the other hand, the investments of the seven main companies that compete in the mexican market of telecommunicationsamong national companies or with headquarters abroad, and that disclose their financial data in the stock markets, invested 1,805.7 million dollars in the development and maintenance of infrastructures in the same time, although this figure does not yet include investments that, for example, have been carried out by companies such as Telefónica, Neutral Networks, CenturyLink, Maxcom, Marcatel, Dish o Arbor Redesbecause these companies are not public, because they disclose their data at the end of the annual exercise or because they have not broken down the degree of their Mexican investment for a long time.

Conexis Brazil Digital indicated that the level of semi-annual investment in Brazil for this sector exceeded the mark of 14,000 million reais for the first time in five years, with which then the pre-pandemic investment grade would have already been exceeded. “When comparing the investment of the first semester of 2022 with the average of the same period of the last five years, a nominal increase of 23.3% and a real increase of 1.1% was registered,” the firm wrote in an analysis.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) will officially inform in the following months the level of investment that the industry will have presented in Mexico.

But so far this year it is possible to have official data and, where appropriate, estimates, of the degree of investment of Mexican companies in the deployment of telecommunications networks.

From the data available in mid-2022, the Televisa Group has directed an investment of 467.5 million dollars to its telecommunications operations, among its main ones such as Sky and Izzi Telecom. Megacable Holdings binds a six-monthly investment of 259 million dollars, without counting here yet the millionaire investment of 2,000 million dollars announced by that company for a period of five years.

Totalplay accumulates investments for 297.2 million dollars, while Axtel account of 31 million dollars of investment in its financial reports. America Movilaccording to estimates, would have invested close to 400 million dollars in the first half of the year in Mexico and AT&Tmeanwhile, up to 350 million dollars in the same time.

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